Current situation

– HIV/AIDS –

– Current situation –

Thirty five years ago, HIV/AIDS emerged as a global concern. The pandemic that followed has taken the lives of more than 34 million people, more than 60% of whom were from sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of impressive social, economic and medical action over the last thirty years, this humanitarian crisis has come a long way.

Today, infection can be prevented. Globally, the number of adults infected with HIV in 2014 was 35% lower than in 2000.

People infected with HIV/AIDS can receive effective treatment and, if certain conditions are respected, can expect to have the same life expectancy as a person who is HIV-negative. The number of AIDS-related deaths dropped by 42% since 2014.

However there is still no cure, and more than 36,9 million people on the planet are infected!

Consequently much remains to be done, and the fight against HIV/AIDS still faces serious challenges, here and around the world.

The main goals of UNAIDS by the year 2020 include:– 90% of all persons living with HIV know their HIV status;– 90% of persons who know their HIV status have access to treatment; and
– 90% of persons receiving treatment have suppressed viral loads. They also include reducing new HIV infections by 75% and attaining the objective of “zero discrimination”.

HIV/AIDS BY THE NUMBERSAccording to UNAIDS statistics:

Between 2000 and 2014, new HIV infections fell by 35%; among children by 58%

In 2014, 1.2 million people worldwide died from AIDS-related causes (up from 3.1 million in 2000)

In 2014, an estimated 17.1 million persons worldwide did not know that they were living with HIV. This represented more than 46% of people with the virus

2 million people were estimated to be newly infected with HIV in 2014 (up from 2.6 million in 2009)

Sub-Saharan Africa represented 66% of new infections in adults and children in 2014 (up from 71% in 2011). New HIV infections fell by 41% between 2000 and 2014

In June 2015, 15.8 million people with HIV had access to antiretroviral therapy, up from 13.6 million in June 2014.
In 2014, 41% of all adults living with HIV had access to treatment, as against 23% in 2010;
32% of all children with HIV had access to treatment in 2014, compared to 14% in 2010;
and 73% of pregnant women living with HIV had access to antiretroviral medication for preventing transmission of the virus to their babies.

According to statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Ministry of Health and Social Services:

75,000 Canadians were estimated to be living with HIV in 2014. This number has been growing: at the end of 2011, there were an estimated 71,000 people living with HIV, as compared to 57,000 at the end of 2005.

Approximately 21% of HIV-positive Canadians were unaware that they had been infected

In 2011, there were 19,300 people living with HIV in Quebec. An estimated 760 persons contracted HIV in 2014.